Activity 2: WIT Time - Our Own Answers

Materials for Activity

Preparation for Activity

Read about WIT Time in the Riddle and Mystery program Introduction.

Post several sheets of blank newsprint. On one, write "WIT Time."

Description of Activity

Announce that it is WIT Time. Indicate the newsprint you have posted and explain that WIT stands for "What I Think." Tell the youth they will use this time to think about their own answers to today's Big Question. You might say:

WIT Time is the time to use our wits and think about what we think.

Ask participants to pair up by turning to a person next to them. Discourage attempts to scurry around the room finding best friends. Tell them this activity will help them get to know one another better. If the group has an odd number of participants, pair one with a co-leader.

Explain that this is a timed activity. Say:

When I give the signal to begin, one partner will ask the other, "Where do you come from?" The second will answer and then ask their partner the same question. Continue asking the same question back and forth. You must each give a different answer each time. After 90 seconds, I will signal you to stop.

Offer that youth might answer with the school they come from, the address they live at, and so on.

Give the signal to begin. After 90 seconds, signal the pairs to stop.

Invite participants to call out the types of answers they gave each other. Record responses on newsprint. You will probably get answers like street addresses, towns, schools and family names or countries of origin.

Ask if anybody answered the question as if they were speaking for the whole human race. In other words, did they try to say where the whole human race comes from?

Say that most big questions like "Where do we come from?" can be asked and answered at different levels. If somebody asks where you come from, your town or street address is a good answer. However, saying where the human race comes from is a good answer, too. The bigger the answer can be, the bigger the question seems to be.

Say in your own words:

When religions ask "where we come from," they usually do not mean towns or street addresses. They mean something larger.

Explain that you will speak more about how the human race began in a later session. Today you are going to hear a story about one very big answer to the question of where absolutely everything came from.